Trailer upturned during Sunday's storm. (Reader submitted photo, by Nanne Wright.)A thunder and lightening storm ripped through Bristow and Manassas, Saturday evening, hitting especially hard along Nokesville Road/Route 28. However, in conferencing with the National Weather Service (NWS), Bristow Beat found meteorologists there were unsure if the damaged caused along 28 was caused by a tornado or just strong winds.
Tuesday afternoon at 3:35 p.m., the National Weather Service confirmed that it was in fact a tornado.
NWS classified the tornado as a EF zero, a comparatively weak tornado with winds between 65 and 85 miles-per-hour.
According to Kevin Witt, NWS meteorologist, an EF zero is the rating tornados typically get in this region. However, the Bristow tornado was strong for an EF zero as it had winds at 85 mph.
Witt said the tornado touched down near the intersection of Route 28/Nokesville Road and Linton Hall Road in Bristow and the City of Manassas.
"It moved northeast along 28, and it ended in the baseball field at the intersection of Godwin Road and Route 28," he said.
Witt explained that while they did not know if there was a tornado at the time of the weather event, they had since sent out a team to survey the damage along Route 28 in Bristow.
“Based on surveying the area and seeing the destruction that is how we classify."
Currently, the NWS is closely watching another storm, but Witt said they have no indication that storm will yield another tornado.
"No, we’re just watching a massive line ripping through the area. Thunderstorms, but not confirmed tornadoes right now," Witt said.
One Prince William man shares the story of being caught in the storm.
NWS and residents discuss Saturday's storm.
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